All About 360 VR Advertising Part 3: The Power of 360 Video

But why are we talking about 360 video? If you’ve been following this whole “All About 360 VR Advertising” series, you’ll know that since the beginning, we’ve been talking about how 360 VR advertising is more than just 360 video. There are so many 360 VR ad formats out there that might prove to be even more effective and engaging than a mere 360 video. The reason we started this series was because we wanted to raise awareness about 360 VR advertising and even challenge what people thought and knew about it. We didn’t want people to think that 360 VR ads were limited to 360 video. And that’s why throughout this series, we’ve talked about the “rabbit hole of interactivity”, using 2D assets to create effective 360 VR ads, and even 360 VR ads that “break” the boundaries of digital ad space because of its expanded ad canvas. We even talked about leveraging storytelling and playable elements with gamified 360 VR ads – an ad format that’s already proven to be effective even without leveraging 360 VR.

Even so, we can no longer avoid the obvious. After all, we can’t have a series on “All About 360 VR Advertising” without dedicating a whole post to probably the most prevalent 360 VR format in the market (at least for now).

What is 360 Video?

So let’s talk about the basics of 360 video and if you want to have a more in-depth definition of 360 video, you can check out our 360 VR page. 360 video is a video format that leverages 360 VR technology. What that means is the viewer of the video is viewing the content as if they were in the middle of a sphere and the content is the sphere – allowing the viewer to look in any direction of the video and still see content there.

Just like any other 360 VR content, 360 video is also immersive and can be viewed in a Cardboard headset. If on Facebook, the 360 video can be viewed through a Samsung Gear VR or an Oculus Rift.

Today, the largest 360 video libraries are Facebook and YouTube. What’s interesting is that most of the 360 videos in those libraries are user-generated. This is a good thing because it tells us that the public is interested in 360 videos and it should be a sign for companies to start leveraging 360 video ads. That doesn’t mean however that companies aren’t taking advantage of 360 Video as a marketing and advertising vehicle. On the contrary, the brands that have posted 360 videos to Facebook and YouTube are generating millions of views and they come from all different industries. Some of the familiar brands that have created 360 VR content are BMW, Oreo, Liberty Mutual, TOMS, Game of Thrones, Nikon and many more.

Leveraging 360 video for ad units is not the same as publishing a 360 video on Facebook or YouTube. It’s an actual ad unit with CTAs that you see when browsing in the internet and instead of just an ordinary video ad, it has a 360 video inside of it (kind of like how videos on Facebook or Youtube aren’t necessarily video ads).

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Another thing that’s important to note is that 360 videos uploaded to Facebook and YouTube do have limitations in terms of their viewability. For starters, if you’re on mobile you can only watch 360 videos through the Facebook or YouTube apps. Watching them on a mobile browser won’t work at all. And if you want to watch a Facebook 360 video in VR you better have a Samsung Gear VR headset and the appropriate Samsung phone because you can’t view them with a Google Cardboard or similar VR viewing device. Plus these are just two marketing platforms – granted they’re big platforms but if you really want to have a wider reach, than leveraging 360 video ad units is the solution you’re looking for.

Is It Worth It?

Will the benefits outweigh the costs? After all, 360 video and 360 VR advertising aren’t created like any other content. The cameras for the content are different, the ways to edit it are different, and even the fact that it requires stitching is different. All these costs can add up. So is it worth it?

To help answer that question it’s best to look at the numbers. A few months ago, we partnered with Mark1 Labs and created a 360 video ad for KFC. Though the global benchmark for engagement is only 3%, the 360 VR ad performed with an engagement rate of 26.89%. That’s almost 9X the global benchmark! The 360 VR ad was even an award-winning ad!

Download the KFC case study

Even when you look at all the views that brands have gotten from their 360 video, it’s easy to see that it really is worth leveraging!

All these positive numbers aren’t surprising when you consider that 360 VR content engages consumers in ways that traditional display can never do. So there’s no denying that there are plenty of benefits that you can reap from a 360 VR ad.

What are you waiting for? Contact us today to start leveraging 360 VR ads!